Volunteers search fairgrounds arena for debris

A handful of people went to the Sanders County Fairgrounds last Monday to sift through the dirt in an effort to clear the arena of foreign objects - especially metal ones - before the high school rodeo in May.

The cleanup was led by Kristy Sheehan, the fairgrounds manager, and Jolene Burke of Chase N Three Productions, a barrel racing clinic and a Plains resident who last month brought the problem of dangerous items buried just below the surface in the arena to the fair board. At that time, she showed them around 75 items they discovered in the arena.

The volunteers last week also included Nick Gerhard of Thompson Falls and his son, Logan, and Rick Sanders of Thompson Falls. Gerhard donated the use of his Bobcat and XR Rentals of Thompson Falls donated the use of a rock basket, which was attached to Gerhard's Bobcat to sift through the dirt. "That saved us a lot of time," said Burke of the Bobcat.

Gerhard drove the machine up and down the arena while the volunteers watched the 48-inch wide fork-like rock basket pick up the dirt to just over six inches deep. The group spent about six hours searching for items and found two buckets of materials, mostly nails and small pieces of cars the size of a ruler, including a car door handle and a near three-foot long metal bumper.

"It's great to be part of the community and we want to help get the grounds ready," said Gerhard, whose three children will be competing in the high school rodeo. Eighteen-year-old Logan will be competing in the team roping and calf roping events. He plans to be part of the University of Montana's rodeo team next year. Delainy, 16, will compete in team roping and break away events, and Jaci, 13, will compete in barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, and break away events.

"There's a good chance that some of these came from some of my cars," said Sanders, who has had around 100 cars in the annual demolition derby over the past 40 years.

The arena is 350 feet long and 150 feet wide, but the group searched only the site within the area where the derby cars competed, said Sheehan. "I think that it is good to keep the arena clear of debris and rock. It is safer for the livestock and the contestants in every event that is put on in the arena," said Sheehan, who took over as fair manager in January. "We aren't just doing it for the high school rodeo contestants, we are doing it for every animal and contestant that competes in the arena this year and all years to come," she added. The high school rodeo is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19. There will also be a team roping competition on Saturday, June 1, and barrel racing on Sunday, June 2, at the arena.

Burke said that some of the items they found could injure a horse and rider and potentially end a cowboy's career. She said the demo derby organizers need to do a better job of cleaning up the arena after a derby. Sheehan said the derby producer and sponsor will be required to pick up the arena. "I will be physically standing at the gate to not allow anything in until they walk through and pick up all of the debris left over from the cars," said Sheehan.

Burke plans to look over the arena again a few more times before the event. "It was a meticulous and time consuming project, but it was worth it," said Burke. "I'm confident that the arena is safe to use," said Burke, who said it was important to get the arena clear of anything that could harm competitors. "Any of those items that we found in the arena could be career ending or cause loss of the animal," said Burke.

"We still plan on going in and picking up the bigger rocks and we hope to have it done before the high school rodeo comes in. It will be just me and Jolene working on the rock picking," said Sheehan.